"Oh, Mr. Annesley, when did you come to Cheltenham?"
"As soon as I heard that Mrs. Armitage was going to have a party I began
to think of coming immediately." Then an idea for the first time shot
through Florence's mind--that her friend Mrs. Armitage was a woman
devoted to intrigue. "What dance have you disengaged? I have something
that I must tell you to-night. You don't mean to say that you will not
give me one dance?" This was merely a lover's anxious doubt on his
part, because Florence had not at once replied to him. "I am told that
you are going away to Brussels."
"Mamma is going on a visit to her brother-in-law."
"And you with her?"
"Of course I shall go with mamma." All this had been said apart, while a
fair-haired, lackadaisical young gentleman was standing twiddling his
thumbs waiting to dance with Florence. At last the little book from her
waist was brought forth, and Harry's name was duly inscribed. The next
dance was a quadrille, and he saw that the space after that was also
vacant; so he boldly wrote down his name for both. I almost think that
Florence must have suspected that Harry Annesley was to be there that
night, or why should the two places have been kept vacant? "And now what
is this," he began, "about your going to Brussels?"
"Mamma's brother is minister there, and we are just going on a visit.
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